I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to game boards, and more particularly to peg type score keeping game boards which are specifically suited by design to facilitate card games such as euchre.
II. Description of the Prior Art
The game of euchre was first introduced in the late 1800's and has been supplanted in popularity in the United States only by auction bridge.
In general, euchre is a card game played with thirty-two cards from a standard fifty-two card deck with all suits from duece through six inclusive eliminated. The cards rank: A (high), K, Q, J, ten, nine, eight, and seven. In the trump suit, the knave (jack) is called the "right bower" and is the highest trump. The knave of the other suit of the same color, called the "left bower" becomes the second highest trump. Thus, the trump suit always contains nine cards, the next suit (same color as the trump suit) contains seven, and each cross suit (opposite color to trump) contains eight.
Five cards are dealt to each player in rounds of three and two at a time. The next card is turned face up. Each player in turn, beginning with the eldest hand (player on the dealer's left), has the right to accept or reject the suit of the turned card as trump. If any player accepts, the dealer discards one card from his hand face down and takes the turned card instead. If all four players pass, rejecting the proposed trump, it is turned down under the pack. Thereafter, beginning with the eldest hand, each player in turn has the right to "make it" (designate another suit as trump) or to pass. If all four players pass in the second round, the hands are thrown in.
The player who makes the trump has the right to declare, "I play alone," whereupon his partner turns his cards face down and takes no part in the play, but shares in the winnings. The eldest hand makes the first lead, regardless of the position of the maker, except that if the maker plays alone the opening lead is made by the player at the maker's left.
The rules of play are as in whist. Any card may be led. Each hand must follow suit if able, but if unable may trump or discard at will. A trick is won by the highest trump, or by the highest card of the suit led. The winner of each trick leads to the next.
The object of play is to win at least three tricks. The maker's side is euchred if it fails to do so. Winning all five tricks is "march." The maker's side scores one point for winning three or four tricks, two points for march and four points for march won when playing alone. For euchre, the opponents score two points. Traditionally, the game was won by the first side to score five points, but today most players, by agreement, increase the count to ten.
There are four common variants to the game, including cut throat, two-handed, railroad and auction euchre. Cut-throat euchre is a three-handed game in which the maker always plays alone against the others in temporary partnership. The scoring is the same as in the four-handed game except that the maker scores only three points for march. Two-handed euchre is played with twenty-four cards, the normal euchre pack being reduced to eliminate sevens and eights. The twenty-four card pack also is sometimes used for the four-handed game, speeding up the play. Railroad euchre is a form of euchre in which local rules and variations are introduced. These might include the use of a joker as a tenth, and highest, trump allowing one of the opponents to oppose alone; allowing lone players to discard a bad card and replace it with the best one from his partner's unused hand; permitting any score above five points to be carried forward into the next game, etc. Finally, auction euchre is played with five, six or seven hands wherein the highest bidder makes trump and selects one or more partners, depending upon the size of his bid.
The widespread popularity of euchre as well as its characteristic rapid pace of play has caused euchre, as has poker, to become widely accepted by gamblers. Monetary wagers associated with euchre generally are established as a fixed amount for the winning player or team as well as an additional penalty levied upon the losing player or team for each euchre suffered during the course of the game. Because the playing time of individual hands in a euchre game frequently is only a matter of seconds, accurate, reliable and observable (by all players) methods of scoring are desirable, particularly when monetary wagers are at stake.
Two types of scoring games of euchre have gained wide acceptance, the use of scoring cards and pencil and paper.
The score card method of scoring euchre games is most readily appreciated by referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings. Two cards which have been excepted from the euchre deck (typically the fives of suits of like color) are selected. At the beginning of the game, one card is turned face down upon, and in register with, the second which is face up. Accordingly, none of the "spots" of the lower card will be exposed inasmuch as they are covered by the upper card. At the end of each hand, the team or player winning points will serially expose the requisite number of spots to reflect his accumulated score by sliding the upper card laterally with respect to the lower card. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the indicated score would be one point. When the player reaches a cumulative score of five points, the upper card is turned over and slid beneath the upward facing card in register therewith. When that player accumulates additional points, the process is repeated whereby the spots of the lower card are serially exposed with a total accumulation of ten, indicating the game has been won. The number of euchres suffered during the game are generally recollected only by memory at the end thereof.
The pencil-and-paper method of scoring games of euchre are essentially self-explanatory wherein the winner of points accumulates same by placing X's or otherwise marking a sheet of paper with the requisite number of points. Euchres suffered by the player are generally indicated by a distinguishing mark such as an asterisk or the like.
Although widely accepted, the score card method of scoring euchre games has a number of shortcomings. Because the score cards are typically obtained from the same original fifty-two card deck used to generate the euchre deck, they have the same appearance (pattern) on the back side thereof. Accordingly, when the euchre deck is being reassembled for shuffling between hands, all too often the score cards are inadvertently intermixed with the euchre deck, resulting in inconvenience, misdeals, and delay when the inadvertence is discovered. Additionally, because the cards are relatively light weight and the table or surface upon which the game is being played often is used to support refreshments, food and the like, the scoring cards can easily be bumped or inadvertently repositioned to indicate a false score. This problem is particularly aggravated when the game is being conducted out-of doors and wind effects the placement of the scoring cards. Reliance on memory for tabulating the number of euchres in a particular game has obvious shortcomings.
The paper-and-pencil method of scoring likewise has shortcomings in requiring the maintenance of paper and pencil which has little other utility during the course of the game and tend to get into the way. Additionally, a player must carefully and deliberately mark his score at the end of each hand to assure accuracy, a procedure which is time consuming and inconvenient to the course of the game, and is difficult to verify by the opposing player or team.
Peg-type counters have been suggested in the prior art for other card games, particularly cribbage. Although functional for use in cribbage games, cribbage boards have proven unsatisfactory in scoring euchre games. Typically, cribbage boards are relatively large and require a track of one hundred and twenty holes for each designated player plus a common "home" hole. Additionally, such boards often have arrays of peg holes indicating games won, legs, skunks, total points and the like. Finally, cribbage boards do not contemplate the use of abbreviated playing decks such as those used in euchre and thus do not provide appropriate storage facilities therein.
A large number of design variations and features of cribbage boards are evidenced in the patent literature. A typical prior art cribbage board is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,460 to Dickson. The Dickson patent describes a cribbage board formed from a wooden base and having several parallel paths formed by columns of one hundred twenty-one scoring holes. An overlay is received over the board whereby all but forty of the holes are covered so that a solitaire game may be played with a standard board and overlay. Finally, a peg storage area within the base of the board is disclosed.